The Last
by no dang name is available
Summary: It is said that it is more likely for a woman to marry her first love, while a man, more often than not, marries his last love, his first true love. Drabble. AkaKuro. Implied OgiKuro, AoKuro, KagaKuro, NijiAka, MidoAka, and MayuAka. Mostly just my thoughts.


**Author's Note**: In light of the recent chapter that brought back OgiKuro feels and prompted me to imagine (fantasize about) Nijimura-senpai showing up to cheer Akashi on *drools* No dialogue. Sorry guys. Just jotting down my thoughts. Unedited. Please forgive my laziness and any mistakes.

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><p>First loves, they say, were difficult to forget. That is because they were the first... <em>everything<em>. The first feelings of naive giddy-ness. The first time butterflies made their stomach do flips because of a single fleeting glance. A glance that held so much meaning to the two parties involved. As though it was an inside joke only the two of them knew about. The first date. The first kiss. The first... time.

People often congratulate the lucky few who have gone all the way with their first loves; past all the hardships that the universe inevitably throws at them. Because it's admittedly difficult. Along the way, no matter how perfect, there will be ups and downs, and only the strong and persistent are allowed to see it through to the better side of the crucible.

There are many people who claim that soul mates exist, and how there is that one person that is destined to be another's partner. That everyone in the world has someone made just for them, and that all we have to do is to find them. That was why those who've stayed through and through with their first loves are lucky. Because they found their "right one" at their first try.

It's a terribly romantic and ideal situation. That there can be _only one_. Unfortunately that's too romantic for the cynical people. For the _unlucky_ ones.

Keep in mind that not all first loves even get to the first date. Because some first loves were one-sided. Unrequited. Never truly meant to be. And the succeeding "loves" weren't all that much better. But that doesn't make them any less meaningful. Any less of "love."

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><p>Kuroko's first love was, in one word, warm. In multiple words it was cheerful, bright, happy, and innocent.<p>

While Akashi's first love was an escape. It was amusing, exciting, interesting, and enlightening.

At this point, it might sound as though their first love was basketball, but do not assume. Both of their first loves are proper human beings.

For Kuroko, it was his first ever best friend: Ogiwara Shigehiro. For Akashi, it was the first person who never bothered to give him special treatment: Nijimura Shuuzo.

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><p>Kuroko learned so much from Ogiwara without even knowing it because he was too busy having fun to notice. But as he looked in retrospect, Kuroko would not have been the same person he was had it not been for the boy he met at a park one day that decided to teach him basketball instead of ignore him like the rest of the kids did. He didn't expect for the relationship to reach past the point of childhood friends.<p>

He didn't expect to like him more than he should, not just as Ogiwara's just-a-friend, but as another male. But before any of the confusing feelings developed into something more, which may have terrified the pre-pubescent boy at the time, it stopped.

The bluenette is glad that the relationship between him and Ogiwara remained platonic. Untainted. Bright. Cheerful. Happy. Innocent. Warm. Only until after middle school did Kuroko realize that should Ogiwara and he have gotten closer instead of apart, he would have fallen for him. _Hard_. Just like how he fell for Aomine.

Kuroko's second love was Aomine Daiki. He was dazzling. Charming. Inspiring. Amazing. He was everything Kuroko was not. And it didn't take long for admiration to turn into something more. The hormonal imbalances didn't help curb Kuroko's affections either.

His second love was incredibly painful. Half of the time he felt confused, dirty... _wrong_. The other half, however, was the best memories Kuroko had of his middle school years. It was similar to how he felt with Ogiwara. Warm. Cheerful. Bright. But the only difference was this time, Kuroko knew it wasn't _innocent_ anymore.

And he felt guilty for it. He often wondered what would have happened had he and Aomine _not _drifted apart. Would the friendly touches have turned into something more... amorous? Would the words of praise and camaraderie and brotherhood have turned into sweet nothings, cheesy one-liners, and love? Would he and Aomine have become like he and Kagami?

Kuroko's third love was Kagami Taiga. He was powerful. Strong-willed. Brave. Stubborn. He was actually quite similar to Kuroko in a way. Other than the fact that they loved basketball more than anything despite what happens—which is a given because practically everyone Kuroko knew loved basketball almost as much or just as much as he did—they were both constantly looking for more reasons to love basketball. They were both passionate. They were both idiots too, which was why they made really good friends.

Too good, actually. It didn't take very long for Kuroko to start falling for Kagami. Perhaps it was Kagami's similarity to Aomine. Kuroko didn't know for sure. But whatever the reason was, he knew that this time, it was different.

This time, it didn't confuse him as much. This time, it didn't feel as _taboo_ as it did before. This time, he even dared to confess his feelings. This time, his one-sided love actually became a real relationship. And he thought... _finally_, this was it. He was the one. He was going to be the one. He'd never let go.

But Kagami... just like Kuroko, was weak against Aomine's charm. Kuroko was actually, for some bizarre reason, afraid to have Aomine and Kagami meet at first. It was as though his gut was subconsciously telling him that having the two lights meet would be a bad thing for their relationship.

And Aomine, also like Kuroko, fell for Kagami's fiery no-nonsense personality. And the two... clicked. Clicked more than Kuroko and Aomine ever did. Clicked more than Kuroko and Kagami ever did. And... because he loved him—at least at the time he thought he loved him (he later realized that it was because he loved _both _of them, but apparently not enough to come in between them)—Kuroko broke up with Kagami.

Soon, Aomine and Kagami started to date. It became an on again and off again relationship, but it seemed to work for the two of them. Their personalities made it so that there were times that they clashed, and there were times that they didn't. But no matter what time it was, whether they were clashing or not, their relationship was loud, feisty, and passionate.

Kuroko decided that what he did was for the best. He did the right thing because despite the constant bickering between the two, he saw something in their relationship that Kuroko didn't even know was possible. He couldn't have even imagined, with him and Aomine or with him and Kagami, to have something like what Aomine and Kagami have with each other.

A certain chemistry that Kuroko realized he could never have with them if he was their partner.

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><p>Not too unlike Kuroko, Akashi acquired many skills from his conversations with Nijimura, although, at the time, the redhead was fully aware of what he was learning because he <em>wanted <em>to learn. What he wasn't aware of was how dependent to the elder he was becoming. Nijimura was not only a source of uncanny basketball and leadership wisdom, he was Akashi's own personal comic relief in his stressful life. And he appreciated every moment of it.

It wasn't until much later that Akashi decided to consider Nijimura as his first love. Akashi always figured that the word "love" should be associated with hearts and and red and pink... lots and lots of pink. But it was never like that with Nijimura. It stayed platonic. Professional, even. But Akashi knew that, in its own way, what he had with Nijimura-senpai was irreplaceable and as close to a "first love" as Akashi will ever have.

Akashi's second love isn't necessarily something that would be considered "love" either. But Akashi decided to categorize it as such anyway. Because it was real. It was human. It was enjoyable. Midorima Shintarou was his friend. His shogi opponent. His vice-captain. His confidant—or as close to a confidant Akashi can have.

Akashi's third love was... confusing. For once, the ever infallible captain found himself dumbfounded by this person. He seemed so timid. So weak. So malleable. So easy to put under his control. But he was defiant. He was always defiant. Always exceeding Akashi's expectations. Akashi thought that this was his first love before he actually sat down and dissected his rather odd love life.

This third love though... never went anywhere. Perhaps he'd never even thought of Akashi in that way because he never once looked at Akashi like he looked at Aomine. And that... hurt, much to Akashi's displeasure. So he chose to forget this third love. Scratch him off the list.

The fourth one, when Akashi reflected on it... was really just him compensating for the loss of who he thought was his first(which in reality was his third). The fourth one was Mayuzumi Chihiro. Akashi tried, so hard, to make him into a replica of the third. Even ventured to make him surpass the third.

And he thought, perhaps whatever those feelings were that he felt for the third, he could probably reproduce them and force them to apply to Mayuzumi. After all, Mayuzumi seemed willing enough to be Akashi's... love.

But it wasn't at all the same.

Something was missing. Mayuzumi wasn't it.

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><p>Kuroko's fourth love was someone he'd looked over because he was too engrossed with Aomine and the fact that his first love was emotionally destroyed indirectly or directly (that part has never really been clear to Kuroko) because of him. Only until after he'd broken up with Kagami, after he realized that a certain chemistry <em>can <em>exist between two people and _didn't_ exist between him and any of his previous "loves", did he truly see Akashi Seijuurou.

Akashi's fifth love was technically his third love. But Akashi decided to count them as two separate instances. The Akashi that first fell for Kuroko Tetsuya was naive and much younger. This Akashi, the Akashi that went through the fire and was born anew in the ashes like a phoenix, was different. This Akashi was decisive, more so than he was before. This Akashi was strong, so much stronger emotionally and mentally. This Akashi was willing to lower his pride. This Akashi finally learned the meaning of pain, of defeat.

The soul mate crap that the media, story books, and movies force down the throats of the lonely... real or not, neither Akashi nor Kuroko gave a damn.

Maybe they had been destined for each other by some other worldly force, maybe not, but they could not deny the fact that they were drawn to each other. And that what they have now is something they've never had before. Something they do not want to lose. Something they _cannot _lose. Something they will fight tooth and nail for.

The first of anything is important. First loves are no different. Why wouldn't they be important? Yes... first loves, second loves, third loves, fourth loves, however many loves... they're all important.

But after a while they all just end up being lumped into the same category. The past.

And when a person finally finds someone they absolutely _have _to hold on to, really... it doesn't matter how many there were before. It _shouldn't_ matter. Even the notorious first. Because it can't compare.

None of the others could ever compare.


End file.
